Ironically, the Chinese do not use the terms Chinese and Western calendar in Chinese. The Chinese name for the Chinese calendar is the farmer's calendar, and the Chinese name for the Western calendar is the civil calendar.
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The Chinese lunar calendar and the Julian Calendar often sync up every 19 years. Most Chinese people notice that their Chinese and Western birthdays often fall on the same day on their 19th, 38th birthday etc
The following rules for the Chinese Calendar (I believe) are equivalent to the rules as given by Helmer Alaksen. http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml
These rules make use of the Tropical Zodiac familiar to Westerners. This must not be confused with the actual constellations corresponding to the 12 signs. The Chinese zodiac is completely different and is not used in the actual calculation of the calendar, but only in naming years. In fact, Chinese has a very different constellation system.
The Zodiac Sign in which the sun is in at the start of the month usually determines the number of a regular month:
Month Zodiac Sign at Start 11 Sagittarius (by rule 4) 12 Capricorn 1 Aquarius 2 Pisces 3 Aries 4 Taurus 5 Gemini 6 Cancer 7 Leo 8 Virgo 9 Libra 10 Scorpio
Some astronomers believed this correspondence to be always true, but there are exceptions. An exception occurred in 1985, after the sun had entered Capricorn and then Aquarius in month 11, causing the Chinese New Year to occur on 20 February 1985 in Pisces rather than Aquarius.
The problem here is that there is a month in which the sun enters two signs of the zodiac. I'll refer to such a month as a dual-entry month. If a given month is a dual-entry month or has a dual-entry month before it and no earlier than the preceding month 11, the above correspondence may fail, otherwise it holds.
The years are named by cycle of 10 Heavenly Stems (天干) and cycle of 12 Earthly Branches[?] (地支). Each year is named by a pair of one stem and one branch called Stem and Branch (干支). Heavenly Stems are associated with Yin Yang (阴阳) and 5 elements (五行). Earthly Branches are associated with 12 animals (see Twelve Animals section).
The 60-year cycle formed by combining the two cycles is known as a jiazi (甲子). It is not 120 because half of the combinations are unused. Jiazi is named after the first year in the 60-year cycle which is also called Jiazi. Some figures of speech use "jiazi" to mean "a full lifespan;" one who has lived more than a jiazi is obviously blessed. (Cf. the Biblical "three-score years and ten.")
This 60-year cycle is insufficient for historical references. During feudal China, the Nian Hao (Era name of an emperor) is add in front of year name for distinction. Example, 康熙壬寅 (kang1 xi1 ren2 yi2) (1662 AD) is the first 壬寅 (ren2 yi2) year during reign of 康熙 (kang1 xi1).
The months, day, and hours can also be denoted using Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, though they are commonly addressed using numerals instead. Together, the four Stem and Branch pairs form the Eight Characters (八字) used in Chinese astrology.
There is a distinction between solar year and lunar year in the Chinese calendar because the calendar is lunisolar. Lunar year (年 nian2) is from one Chinese new year to the next. Solar year (岁 sui4) is from one Start of Spring to the next (see Jie Chi section). Lunar year is used exclusively because dates are also in lunar.
The Twelve Animals (十二生肖 or colloquially called 十二属相) representing the 12 Earthly Branches (地支) are:
This sequence is traditionally assigned according to a legend:
See Chinese astrology for more details.
Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. The part of the calendar that follows the movement of the sun is called Jie Chi (節氣 jie2 qi). Jie Chi is also translated to "Solar Terms". There are twenty four Jie Chi. These Jie Chi roughly fall on the same date in solar calendars such as Gregorian Calendar because they were solar based. Obviously these Jie Chi do not form any pattern in the Chinese calendar. Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced to China, these Jie Chi are published each year in farmers' almanac. Farmers relied on these Jie Chi to plan their planting and harvest.
| Chinese Name | Occurrence (Gregorian Date) | Literary Meaning | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| 立春 (li4 chun1) | February 4 ~ February 18 | start of spring | |
| 雨水 (yu3 shui3) | February 19 ~ March 4 | rain water | indicates more rain instead of snow |
| 驚蟄 (jing1 zhe2) | March 5 ~ March 20 | awakening of the insects | indicates animals and insects awakening from hibernation |
| 春分 (chun1 fen1) | March 21 ~ April 4 | vernal equinox | |
| 清明 (qing1 ming2) | April 5 ~ April 19 | clear and bright | the time for tending graves |
| 穀雨 (gu3 yu3) | April 20 ~ May 5 | grain rain | indicates rain will help grain growth |
| 立夏 (li4 xia4) | May 6 ~ May 20 | start of summer | |
| 小滿 (xia3 man3) | May 21 ~ June 5 | small plumpness | indicates plumpness of grains |
| 芒種 (mang2 zhong4) | June 6 ~ June 20 | grain in ear | indicates grains growing ears (botany usage) |
| 夏至 (xia4 zhi4) | June 21 ~ July 6 | summer solstice | |
| 小暑 (xiao3 shu3) | July 7 ~ July 22 | minor heat | |
| 大暑 (da4 shu3) | July 23 ~ August 6 | major heat | |
| 立秋 (li4 qiu1) | August 7 ~ August 22 | start of autumn | |
| 處暑 (chu shu3) | August 23 ~ September 7 | stop of heat | |
| 白露 (bai2 lu4) | September 8 ~ September 22 | white dew | indicates condensed moisture makes dew white |
| 秋分 (qiu1 fen1) | September 23 ~ October 7 | autumnal equinox | |
| 寒露 (han2 lu4) | October 8 ~ October 22 | cold dew | |
| 霜降 (shuang1 jiang4) | October 23 ~ November 6 | frost descent | indicates appearing of frost and descent of temperature |
| 立冬 (li4 dong1) | November 7 ~ November 21 | start of winter | |
| 小雪 (xiao3 xue3) | November 22 ~ December 7 | minor snow | |
| 大雪 (da4 xue3) | December 7 ~ December 21 | major snow | |
| 冬至 (dong1 zhi4) | December 22 ~ January 5 | winter solstice | |
| 小寒 (xiao3 han2) | January 6 ~ January 19 | minor cold | |
| 大寒 (da4 han2) | January 20 ~ February 3 | major cold |
The dates above are approximate and may vary slightly year to year. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon day closest to Li Chun.
Song of Solar Terms is used to ease the memorization of Jie Chi.
Lyrics:
《节气歌》
春雨惊春清谷天，
夏满芒夏署相连，
秋处露秋寒霜降，
冬雪雪冬小大寒。
| Date | English Name | Chinese Name | Remarks | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| month 1 day 1 | Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) | 春节 | Feb 1 | Jan 22 | Feb 9 | |
| month 1 day 15 | Lantern Festival[?] | 元宵节 | observed with yuanxiao eating | Feb 15 | Feb 5 | Feb 23 |
| month 5 day 5 | Dragon Boat Festival (Dragon Festival) | 端午节 | observed with dragon boat racing and zongzi eating | Jun 4 | Jun 22 | Jun 11 |
| month 7 day 7 | Qi Qiao Jie (Chinese Valentine's Day) | 乞巧节 | girls practice homemaking skills and 'beg' for good marriage | Aug 4 | Aug 22 | Aug 11 |
| month 7 day 15 | Spirit Festival (Ghost Festival) | 中元节 | Aug 12 | Aug 30 | Aug 19 | |
| month 8 day 15 | Mid-autumn Festival[?] (Moon Festival) | 中秋节 | observed with family gathering and moon cake eating | Sep 11 | Sep 28 | Sep 18 |
| month 9 day 9 | Double Ninth Festival[?] | 重阳节 | Oct 4 | Oct 22 | Oct 11 |
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump